Every Rose Has it's Thorn
by barefoot and buckwild
Summary: A collection of oneshots/drabbles written for the Music Appreciation challenge on HPFC. i: "You're still perfect to me." She was glad to have someone like him who wouldn't judge her for her scars.


AN: This was written for the Love-Triangle Competition with the prompts; blush/blushing, purple and fucking perfect by pink. It is also written for the Music Appreciation challenge.

Leave a review and tell me what you thought? Please.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Harry Potter related, I'm just borrowing these characters for the time being.

* * *

You are Perfect to Me

She sat on a makeshift bed on the right side of the Room of Requirement. Many Gryffindor students and former Dumbledore's Army members had taken to hiding in the room – away from the chaos in the halls and from the Carrows.

Although it was a different time, Hogwarts was different and there was a war going on. This of course, didn't stop her from thinking about her sixth year.

She just couldn't help it. She had a lot of room to think since she only left the Room of Requirement for meals and classes; considering she was too afraid to do anything else.

As much as she wanted to keep herself from thinking about the past year, she couldn't. It was like it was glued in her mind.

_I put everything into that relationship,_ she thought.

She scoffed. No matter how hard she tried, she knew it would never have been enough. No matter what she did, she couldn't have changed his mind.

She knew things were better off this way. That she was better off without him. She didn't have to worry about having a 'boyfriend' who was in love with another girl.

She wasn't the one he wanted and she never would be. She didn't have bushy brown hair, she had dirty blonde ringlets. She wasn't Hermione Granger and she never would be. She was Lavender Brown.

But that didn't change the fact that she was hurting. He had been her first real boyfriend. He had also been her first real heartbreak.

She sighed.

_The relationship was failed from the start. _

Her brain constantly shouted that at her, but her heart refused to listen; she over looked logic so many times as she desperately tried to hold onto a pathetic excuse for a relationship.

Again she scoffed. A relationship took two people to make it work, but she only ever felt like she was the only one who was trying. With each passing day, she felt herself slipping further and further away from him.

But that still didn't stop her from trying to fix a relationship that didn't want to be fixed. She should have just walked away and never looked back, but she didn't. She couldn't.

She just felt drawn to him and she had the impulse to kiss him. And so she had. She'd felt victorious in that moment. But that was probably the fire whiskey talking and the excitement from Gryffindor winning that Quidditch game. She knew it was a bad idea, but she shoved the thought aside and had joined in the celebrations.

* * *

_She was standing off to the side with her friend, Parvati Pati staring at him for most of the celebration, trying to work up the courage to talk to him. _

"_Just walk up to him, Lav," Parvati told her. "I know you like him, so talk to him."_

_Lavender pulled her gaze away from Ron for a moment to look at her best mate and felt a blush creeping up on her face. "What will I even say? I—"_

_Parvati handed her a glass of fire whiskey. "Just go talk to him. If all else fails, well, I'm sure both of you will be embarrassed. So there really won't be any harm done."_

_Lavender accepted the glass and took a long swig of it. The liquid burned her throat on the way down. "You know, you're terrible at pep-talks, 'vati."_

_Parvati smiled, grabbed a hold of Lavender's shoulders and pushed her towards the middle of the Common Room. "Just go!"_

_Lavender downed the rest of the liquid and took a deep breath as she neared the center of the room. She saw him, surrounded by a bunch of people and felt butterflies in her stomach. _

_She hesitated, not knowing what to do. Eventually the crowd around him slowly started to dwindle and she saw her opening. She braced herself and jumped towards him, throwing her arms around his neck and crashing her lips to his. _

_She felt Ron kissing her back and tried to keep herself from smiling._

* * *

"Are you alright, Lavender?" a familiar voice asked, pulling her from her thoughts.

Lavender turned her head to find herself staring at Seamus. He sat down on the bed next to her.

"I'm fine," she told him, although that was far from the truth. She wasn't fine; none of them were. They were in the middle of a bloody war for Godric's sake. And they had all retreated into the safety of the Room of Requirement rather than actually facing the Carrows' torture or the Slytherins.

"I know you're lying," he told her. "None of us are alright and we won't be until this damn war is over."

Lavender sighed. _That's if we win,_ she thought, sadly.

"It seems like a long shot, but I have all the hope that we will win this," Seamus said.

Lavender gave a small, sad smile before turning to look at the window that the room had materialized at some point, and glanced at the sunset. The sky was turning a pinkish, purplish color as the sun was slowly setting beyond the clouds. It seemed silly that there could be something so beautiful in the middle of such an ugly time.

She turned back to Seamus. "Is there ever going to be an end?"

Seamus shrugged. "I honestly couldn't tell you that. I don't know – I don't think anyone knows the answer to that. All we can do here is sit and wait."

Lavender looked down at her feet before glancing around the room at her fellow classmates and she felt her stomach drop. There was a possibility that half of them may not make it through to see the end of the war.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, but didn't bother looking up at Seamus. Another hand cupped her chin and pulled her head to the left before it dropped from her face. She found herself staring at him and her brown eyes caught his blue in a gaze.

"I'll be here to protect you, Lav," he told her. "That's what friends are for."

Lavender couldn't help but smile.

* * *

She made some dumb decisions before in her life and did things that she wasn't so proud of, but that hasn't slowed her down or stopped her from living. The choices that she's made have made her who she is and have shaped her. She also hasn't let the gossip and the whispers get to her – people would always spread rumors and talk about her; but she doesn't care. She can't stop them, so she doesn't let them get to her.

Even with all that, she still couldn't help herself from dwelling on her 'relationship' and break up with Ron. Even if it wasn't worth her time, she couldn't stop blaming herself from her heart break.

_It was domed from the start_.

* * *

_She ran as fast as her feet could take her after she'd heard the news. Her 'won-won' couldn't be injured, could he? She had to get to him – she had to know that he was okay. _

_Before she knew it, she was entering the Hospital wing, calling his name. She stopped cold when she reached Ron's bed. _

_What was she doing here? Of all people?_

"_Why is she here?" Lavender found herself asking. _

_Hermione quickly stood up from her chair next to Ron's bed. "I might ask you to the same question!"_

_Lavender could have sworn that Hermione was smarter than that, or so she had thought. "I happen to be his girlfriend." _

"_I happen to be his…friend."_

_Lavender suppressed a scoff. "Friend? Don't make me laugh! You haven't spoken in weeks. I guess you want to make up with him now that he's suddenly all interesting!"_

"_He's just been poisoned, you daft dimbo! And as a matter of fact, I've always found him interesting," Hermione stated._

_There was a moment of uncomfortable and awkward silence where all Lavender wanted to do was toss Hermione from the Hospital wing's window. _

_The sound of movement drew herself out of her thoughts. She glanced towards Ron and saw him stir. _

"_See?" Lavender said. "He senses my presence." She leaned down and slowly reached for his hand. "Don't worry, Won-Won! I'm here."_

"_Her…my…nee," Ron croaked out. "Hermione."_

_Lavender quickly dropped her hand, straightened up and ran from the Hospital wing. She didn't bother trying to wipe her tears as they fell._

* * *

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned her head to once again be face to face with Seamus.

"Hey," she said.

He gave a small smile. "Hey," he replied. "Are you alright?"

Lavender nodded, slowly. "Yeah," she told him, even thought it wasn't the truth. She was sure that Seamus saw through her lie, but if he did, he didn't say anything.

"You know that you can talk to me if you need to," Seamus stated, grasping her hand in his.

Lavender nodded and smiled. "I know. But I'm just thinking. Really, it's nothing," she reassured him. "If it was something serious, I promise that I would talk to you."

"Okay," Seamus said after a while. Lavender could tell that he wasn't fully satisfied with her answer, but he didn't push.

After a moment of silence, Lavender decided to break it. "How are things out _there?"_ she asked, wanting to know how the Carrows and other students were.

"Neville saw a group of first years getting tortured by Crabbe, Goyle, Greengrass and Parkinson on the way back from his detention," Seamus told her.

Lavender felt sick that something so evil couldn't be happening to people so young, naïve and innocent. Anger started bubbling inside her, but she quickly shoved it away. There was nothing that she could do about it – not on her own at least.

"We'll be safe as long as we stay in here," Seamus added.

_Hopefully,_ Lavender thought.

"I did say that I would protect you," Seamus said, draping an arm lightly around her shoulders.

Out of habit Lavender slowly leaned her head against his shoulder and felt his grip on her tighten in a comfortable way. She felt safe around Seamus and was glad that she had him to help her through this crazy year. She didn't know what she'd do with him.

He was surprising sweet, kind and worried about her. Lavender smiled because for some reason, she knew that Seamus would try his hardest to protect her.

She wished that things could be different between them – that they could be more than just friends, but she'd take anything else if it meant being in his company.

There was something there that wasn't there when she was with Ron. She doesn't need to lie to herself, pretend to be someone she's not or try as hard as she can to keep Seamus' attention.

* * *

S_he felt her heart breaking as she watched the scene in front of her and she scolded herself for giving him another chance after what happened in March. _

_Ron exited the boy's dormitory with _her._ She never wanted to believe that there was something going on with them – despite the rumors. She didn't think that Hermione was that type of girl since she always had her nose in a damn book. _

_But what else could a boy and a girl do alone in a boy's dormitory, for crying out loud!_

_She also didn't want to let herself to believe that there was something between them, even with the scene in the hospital wing, she didn't – couldn't let herself believe it. She knew if she did, she'd get hurt and she didn't want that, because she knew it was her fault._

_Her brown eyes caught a glimpse of blue and she locked eyes with Ron. She slowly felt anger rising up in her as she watched him turn away and say something to Hermione. She turned away from a moment and when she looked back, she saw Ron making his way towards her. _

_She turned on her heel and started toward the girl's dormitory, not wanting to hear his excuses. _

"_Lavender wait," Ron pleaded. "Please." _

_Something made Lavender stopped abruptly and slowly turned to face Ron as he walked the rest of the way to stand in front of her. _

"_There's nothing to discuss," Lavender said firmly. She felt tears welling at the ends of her eyes and she forced herself not to crying in front of him. "I can see that you don't care about this relationship or feel about me the same way that I feel about you," she felt her voice crack as she continued. "You don't love me the way that you love her, so I don't care anymore. I'm tired of being in a one sided relationship. It's done."_

_She quickly turned on her heel and ran up the stairs to her dormitory. She crashed down on her bed and pulled the curtains around her four poster before she let the tears fall freely. _

_This shouldn't have come to such a shock to her but it did. And the sting and the pain were visibly there. She hated Ron and she hated Hermione. But more importantly she hated herself for believing that Ron was actually hers to begin with. _

_He never was and he never will be._

* * *

She was running around corners, dodging spells and jumping over rubble and holes, trying to find _him_. But it was no use. Hogwarts was a huge castle and amidst all the chaos from the battle, it would be a one in a million chance of her actually finding Seamus in it.

She kept running until she tripped over a chunk of rumble that was once a part of the stone structure surrounding the entrance courtyard. Her wand slipped from her fingers as her arms shot out in front of her to try to mask her fall. After she regained herself, she grabbed her wand and quickly stood up.

A low growl made her blood run cold and caused her to swallow thickly. She knew that sound but didn't want to believe that one was actually near her because she knew it couldn't be good news. She remembered learning about them in her third year and shuddered at the thought that Greyback was behind her.

She slowly turned and tightened her grip on her wand until her knuckles were white. She shot the first spell she could think of and ducked out of the way as he sent one right back at her. She held her own against him until he shot a 'confrigo' at a nearby crumbled, stone wall which she was using as a cover.

She felt herself being thrown backwards and she hit her head on the ground, hard. She groaned and tried to regain her footing, but it was no use. There was a sheer force on top of her, holding her down.

She felt something biting at her skin and terrible pain coursed through her. She wanted to scream but she couldn't find her voice and she couldn't tell what was happening because her vision was cloudy.

She tried clawing at whatever it was holding her down, but she couldn't muster the strength to move her hands.

The biting and the pain stopped shortly after and that was the last thing she remembered.

* * *

She woke up later to a fanatic voice arguing with, what sounded like, an older woman.

Her head was pounding, her mouth was dry and she was strongly fatigued. She blinked a couple of times to get her vision to where she could actually see.

She slowly glanced around and realized that she was lying in the Hospital Wing. A million things came to her at once; _how did she get in here? Why was she in here? What happened to Seamus? Did we win? Lose? What about Harry?_

_Greyback. _

The last thing she remembered was getting attacked by him and that's why she's in the Hospital Wing; which meant that she was alive and almost well.

_So I'm not dead. _

She looked over towards the bedside table to see a small mirror and a cup of water. She slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position before grabbing the cup and quickly drinking it.

She set the cup back down and took a deep breath before she slowly reached for the mirror. She gasped when she saw her reflection. Tiny pink scars trailed alongside her face and jawline and her skin was sickly pale.

She quickly sat the mirror back down.

_Greyback did this to me…_

The sound of footsteps forced her from her thoughts.

"Lavender," that familiar voice said, so softly that for a moment she thought she imagined it.

"I don't want you to have to see me like this," Lavender said, sadly.

A hand wrapped around her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "I'm not going anywhere unless Madame Pomfrey kicks me out. I don't care how you look. I'm just glad that you're okay. I…I don't know what I would do if I'd lost you tonight."

Lavender forced herself to look at Seamus and couldn't help but smile. She could tell by his eyes that he was telling the truth. "I'm here…I'm just weak."

Seamus smiled in return. "I know it seems like really crappy timing," he sighed. "But tonight made me realize that life is too short to mess around – I love you Lavender. I have for a while now and I've never known how to tell you. I guess now is as good a time to tell you since the war's over and we can finally live our lives and not cower in fear all the time."

Lavender grinned. So it was over, they won. But it would be a while before everything went back to the way it was before.

Seamus brushed stray hairs out of her face with his free hand. "You're still beautiful and you're brave as well – considering everything you've been through tonight. I'm not shallow to the point where I only care about looks, Lavender."

They fell into a comfortable silence after a while and Lavender felt content and safe; safer than she's felt since after Dumbledore died. She can actually slow down, think and _breathe_ for the first time in months and she's grateful for that. She's glad that it's over.

"Does it—does it hurt?" Seamus asked, curiously after a while.

Lavender nodded, slowly. "Yeah, a bit, but it's nothing that a pain potion can't handle."

"That's good," he replied. "At least it wasn't a full moon," he added, as an afterthought.

"That's what Madame Pomfrey said…I don't want to think of how different things would be if it were a full moon."

Seamus nodded. "But either way it goes, the full moon is still going to affect you, isn't it?"

"Apparently, I'll have a craving for raw meat. Goody," she joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Seamus smiled at her. "Well, that's a simple thing to deal with…and if you do have pains during the full moon, there's always the Wolfsbane potion. And I'll always be here if you need me."

Seamus leaned down and pressed his lips against hers in a short and sweet kiss. "You're still perfect to me."

"Thank you for always being there, Seamus."

Lavender stared at his blue eyes and smiled. She knew that he was right, but it would take her a while to really believe that. She was glad to have someone like Seamus who wouldn't judge her for her scars. He didn't care about her scars or anything of that, he only cared about _her._


End file.
